Square Enix Drops IO Interactive, Future of Hitman Franchise Unknown

11. May, 2017

In a surprising move Square Enix has parted ways with Hitman developer IO Interactive. The news comes from a brief statement released by Square Enix to investors that reported that the break-up would cost a “loss amounting to 4,898 million yen” or roughly $43 million dollars.

“To maximize player satisfaction as well as market potential going forward, we are focusing our resources and energies on key franchises and studios. As a result, the Company has regrettably decided to withdraw from the business of IO INTERACTIVE A/S, a wholly‐owned subsidiary and a Danish corporation, as of March 31, 2017. This decision has resulted in booking of the extraordinary loss amounting to 4,898 million yen, including disposition of the content production account related to the business and impairment loss of intangible assets, in the financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.

As a result of this the Company started discussions with potential new investors and is currently in negotiations to secure this investment. Whilst there can be no guarantees that the negotiations will be concluded successfully, they are being explored since this is in the best interests of our shareholders, the studio and the industry as a whole.”

This news puts into question what will become of the Hitman franchise as fans were expecting a second season of IO Interactive’s recent Hitman game. The recent Hitman game took a risk by moving to an episodic format, but was well received by critics and fans alike. Now with IO interactive up for sale or going fully independent it is unlikely we will see anything new from the Hitman franchise anytime soon.

At the time of this reporting IO Interactive has not released a statement on their social media channels regarding their release from Square Enix. We will update this post if IO Interactive releases a statement regarding their future.

Just a nerd from the Windy City. I’m actually really bad at describing myself because I get all self-critical and self-conscious. Follow me on Twitter, @The1stMJC, to see my borderline insane rants on tv shows and other non important subjects. If I’m not tweeting I’m probably just watching Buffy or Firefly for the millionth time.